Spiritdimension Neptunia Frontier
by smx underground
Summary: The CPUs and their Sisters are dead, but their Spirits live on. It is now up to Four Girls from the VR dimension (Read: Earth) to utilize those spirits to take Gamindustri back from the Newly revived Deity of Sin. [Collab W/ KuletXCore. Betaed by Bropower125 and Dingbat (From Spacebattles)
1. Prologue

Hello and welcome to the revamped version of Spiritdimension Neptunia Frontier!

We have edited this fic based on your feedback, and to all the followers, thank you for supporting us!  
This fic is made by **KuletXCore** and **SMXSonic** , and is beta'd by **Kaiyo No Umi** and **Bropower125** of FFN and **Dingbat779** on Spacebattles.

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 **Disclaimer: We do not own anything except for the story and original characters. Neptunia is owned by Idea Factory/Compile Heart and Digimon Frontier (the main inspiration for this fic) is owned by Akiyoshi Hongo and Bandai.  
Please support the official release.**

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Gamindustri, The land of Video Games.  
It is a world split into four countries, each led by a goddess called a CPU: Planeptune, the Land of Purple Progress, led by the CPU Purple Heart; Lastation, the Land of black Regality, Led by the CPU Black Heart; Leanbox, the Land of Green Pastures, Led by the CPU Green Heart; and Lowee, the Land of White Serenity led by the Goddess White Heart.

The four nations lived in a state of constant rivalry, each vying for the life energy of Gamindustri called Shares, which was generated by the faith of the people. The rivalry was strong, but at the end of the day, each nation was at peace with one another.

That is until a demon from the past reared its face again. A beast called the Deity of Sin emerged and started to lay waste to the land. The four CPUs and their sisters rose up to fight the beast. But even in their newly found NEXT Forms, they were no match for it. They perished, all eight giving everything they had.

* * *

Which brings us here, at the CPU funeral where the Goddess' closest friends gathered to say goodbye. It was held outside at the very heart of Gamindustri. Where a Memorial was built with statues depicting the four Goddesses looking out at their respective countries. The park was pristine and well kept with green trees and a landscaping fit for a goddess, and the statues were made of Marble. Flags of each nation were flown at the back of the statues.

The citizens of gamindustri mourned for the loss of their goddess, and some groups created tributes to their respective goddesses in each landmass.

The Oracles of their respective countries and their friends were at the very center of the memorial. Some hugging their statues' feet...

"Miss Chika, please let go of the Green Heart statue."

"I can't! This all I have, and I can't lose it!"

Others swearing revenge to the beast...

"I swear, Lady Noire. I will hunt this thing down and kill it in your name..."

"Miss K-sha, we will assign our military for a search and destroy operation."

"Thank you, Miss Kei"

Some reminiscing at their memories...

"They may be naughty kids, but I'll miss them..."

"Yes, Miss Mina. I'll miss Lady Blanc too..."

"Shall we move forward, Financier?"

"Yes... Please."

...and some are looking for hope in this situation.

"W-What are we going to do now?" a strawberry blonde girl, Compa, asked between sobs.

"I-I really don't know," Her brunette companion, IF said, still holding strong for her friends, "I mean, Nep and the others couldn't beat that thing. W-what chance do we have?"

"No," a blonde fairy riding a book, Histoire, asserted, "There is still hope."

"W-what do you mean Histy? Nep-Nep and the others are…" Compa broke down into more sobs.

"Their bodies may have perished, but their spirits live on," Histoire closed her eyes, "I can feel it."

"A-are you sure?" IF asked.

"Please, have faith," Histoire said, "It's required for this plan to work."

* * *

"Thanks for the slumber party!"

"Yeah, I forgot how much fun it was."

"True. We even had a gaming session! Man, Alex destroyed us all!"

"Tell me about it! She barely ever wins."

"Oh, Ha, Ha!" Alex laughed sarcastically as she put her pink backpack on, "As much as I would like to celebrate my win, I'll be heading home now. Bye guys!"

"Bye, Alex! See ya soon!"

Alexandra Rose was just a normal teenage girl, living a normal teenage life.  
She was a sixteen-year-old teen who had shoulder-length brown hair and deep red eyes. She wore a white print shirt, blue knee-length skirt, a purple bracelet and some brown sandals.  
It was the first day of Summer vacation, and thus she had just had a sleepover with one of her friends. As she was walking to her own house, she felt her phone buzz in her skirt pocket.

* * *

Across town, at one of the town's most popular hangouts, another teenager by the name of Lara Strife was conferring with her friends about what the group should do this summer.

"So, yeah. What do you think we should do this summer break?" Lara asked.  
"I don't know, maybe go for a road trip?" one of her friends suggested.  
"Yeah, that could work too! I always wanted to explore other places other than this city..."

She had long black hair which she usually liked to tie into a ponytail and baby blue eyes. She currently wore a tank-top under a white and gray jacket, torn gray pants and some converse sneakers.  
She also felt her phone buzz.

"Hmm?" She looked down and fished her phone in her pockets, only to see a dark blue diamond with a stylized 'LS' displayed on the screen. "Hold on guys, someone's calling me."

* * *

Further uptown, Maya Valera was stopping by the local juice shop to cool herself off after cruising on her bike. Her bike is A green and black custom-made Honda CBR1000RR with an X decal on its side. She stopped over at a local convenience store that she always passes through every time she rides her motorbike.

"Yo, Greg! What's up! How's my favorite store clerk?"

"Hey, Maya! Yeah, I'm doin fine. Just makin money. What're you up to today?"

"I dunno, enjoying the summer vacation, I guess... Hey, can I get the usual?"

"The Orange Box? That juice drink that you really like?"

"Yep. That's the one. You're the best!"

Her black hair was short and she had colored a part of her hair with a green streak. She had dark gray eyes. Her current gear was a white shirt underneath her limited edition Xbox One jacket she won in a giveaway, black and gray fingerless gloves, long jeans and some basketball shoes.

She went out of the store to start sipping on The Orange Box beside her bike. When suddenly...

 _Through a Spirit Evolution!_

 _I AM THE ONE.. HOOH!_

 _I AM THE ONE.. HOOH!_

 _I AM_...

"Hmm...? What's this X-Thing that's calling my phone? Oh well. Might as well answer it..."

* * *

"It's already summer! Time to browse the library for some summer reading...Hmm.. Let's see... Novels, Textbooks..Ooh, There's manga here!"

At the Local Library, a small statured girl by the name of Hotaru Iwata was checking out books for her summer reading.

"Hmm... Let's see here... Seeress Noire, Date A Live, Kamen Rider Harmony, Silver-eyed Heiress, A Loner's Idol Family, Life isn't fair... Neptunia: Megami Tsuushin? Looks colorful. I'll place this in my backlog."

She had braided blonde hair and brown eyes. She's wearing a white and blue shirt, black and pink pants and some sneakers.

"Oh yeah, 'Ready Player One' is going to have a movie soon! I need to read up on the novel before watching it!"

She looked for a table to lay all of her books and belongings. She then started flipping through her first book, when she heard a peculiar sound from her bag.

"What is this? Someone's calling me? But who?"

Her phone was vibrating, and a silver sheriff badge with a cursive 'L' had overtaken the entire screen. It was also glitching, and it made Hotaru uneasy.

"Okay, I'll press accept. How did they get my number in the first place?" She reluctantly pressed the button on the screen, and put her phone towards her ear. "Umm... Hello?"

* * *

Alexandra went to check her phone, and on the screen was a stylized Purple 'N'.

"H-Hello? If you can hear me then you've been chosen to help us." The voice sounded like a little girl but the tone sounded a lot more mature than that, "Our world is in grave danger, and you're our only hope. Follow the map, and please save us."

As soon as the message ended, her phone's Map app opened by itself and pointed to a nearby subway station.

Alexandra didn't know what to make of this. Did someone out there really need her help? Could she really do anything? She would feel horrible if something were to happen.

She decided to follow the map, running as fast as her legs could take her while wearing a skirt. Rushing towards the train station, Alexandra rushed into the large gray brick building. Inside, she reached the lobby. The inside of the building was large, and the lobby attested to it. Gray pillars illuminated by faint orange lights reached the roof, where glass paned windows protected by iron bars meet them. The roof was then covered green tarp that hung down to hold out a pole that could be used to carry a banner or a flag. At the opposite end of the entrance were stairs the led down to where the subways and stairs that led up for trains. Finally, at the sides where windows where people could buy their tickets, and even digital booths for when people didn't want to socialize. Above the booths were tv screens that lined up the trains' availability and their main destination..

She made it to the main terminal when she realized that she had no idea which train to take. Her phone pinged again.

"Go through a hidden door at the far left corner of the station. It will be disguised as a video game shop. Once there, enter it and you will see a touch panel." Alex was confused. She won't ride the train that the people are boarding on? She reluctantly followed the voice and saw a closed video game shop that's unguarded.

She then entered the shop and saw a touchpad attached to a door. The panel looked like an old video game controller, a four-button Directional pad and 2 buttons labeled 'A' and 'B' .

"Can you crack the code?" the voice said.

She paused, but then entered the first code that came to mind; Up on the D-pad twice, Down twice, Left and right Twice, B button, and then the A button. The door then unlocked itself with a jingle and she bolted through the door.

It was the exact same train station that she left, but there were far less people than she thought it would be. The now-hidden door was placed on the same position that the abandoned video game shop was. Weird. Now what? Which train does she take? Her phone pinged once more.

"Just choose a train," The voice said not unkindly. "I promise it will take you where you need to go."

Alexandra wasn't one to take chances, but at this point, there was no other choice. She ran towards a train that was about to leave, brushing past another girl with bright red hair.

"Hey! Watch it!" The girl yelled at her.

"Sorry," Alexandra yelled back, "This is really important!"

The train was about to leave, but Alexandra managed to board it before the door closed.

The first thing that Alexandra noticed was that the train was strangely empty and the only occupants were three other girls.

"This is weird."

"Yeah, we were just talkin' about that," The girl with a green streak in her hair said, "Did you get a weird message on your phone?"

"Yeah!" Alexandra confirmed, "Something about being chosen to save a world?"

"So it really isn't a coincidence," The small blonde-haired girl whispered.

The last girl, wearing a low ponytail, stood up and walked over to Alex and held out her hand, "I'm Lara Strife, I don't really know what's going on, but I'm glad that there are others with me."

"I'm Alexandra Rose, but please, call me Alex."

The girl with the green streak chuckled and pointed to herself, "I'm Maya Valera. Whatever this is, it's gonna be a wild ride!"

"Um… I'm Hotaru Iwata… I hope we all stay safe…" The blonde said.

Suddenly, the train accelerated and caused them to all fall down.  
Unbeknownst to them, transparent silhouettes of four young women appeared above as they dropped. One had long purple pigtails, while another had her white hair down. The woman with her hair down had her arms crossed. The tallest one had a bust almost as large as her head, and had a green ponytail that reached her thighs. The shortest of the four prevented herself from glaring at the green haired woman as her light blue side locks shivered with each glance. The woman with the purple pigtails reached out to them, but all four of them vanished in an instant.

As sudden as the train started, It stopped.

The door opened, revealing a ridiculously small fairy sitting on a book.

"Hello," it said in the same voice as the message, "I am Histoire, welcome to Gamindustri and I thank you for helping us in this time of need."


	2. Chapter 2

"Whoa... You're so tiny..." Hotaru stated in wonder as the other girls inspected the fairy.

"I get that a lot," Histoire replied.

"Wait... Are you the one who called us?" Alex asked.

"Yes, I am the one who summoned you here in Gamindustri".

"You said 'Gamindustri'. Where exactly are we?" Lara wondered as she looked around her.

It was an abandoned subway station with futuristic features like electronic sign boards, drones that clean the floor and vending machines that dispensed _**everything**_. Sadly, it looked more like a ghost town than a subway station. The purple panels are not lighting up, the drones are collecting dust and sparking randomly, some sign boards were broken beyond repair with cracked screens and sparks flying every minute, Others were displaying error screens in a blue background, and there were slime creatures with puppy faces bouncing around in some parts of the subway in a way that was both cute and terrifying. It made the girls wonder what it would look like when fixed.

"Guys... I don't think we're in earth anymore..." Maya proclaimed.

"I am afraid that you're right. The place that you're in is named Planeptune." Histoire said, floating around their group to get them focused.

"Oh god, _we're in another world!_ " Lara panicked. She was the only one who was panicking, however as the other girls were just looking around their new surroundings.

"What is that on the wall?" Alex pointed to the paintings on the wall leading to outside of the train station.

A stylized mural adorned the wall, depicting two women with purple hair.

One was tall, busty, and had her dark purple hair in twin braids, wearing what seemed to be a black one piece with purple accents.

The other one was smaller and let her lilac hair flow freely, her white one piece slightly covering more than the other woman.

"That's Purple Heart," Histoire explained, indicating the one with braids, "and the other one is Purple Sister. The citizens spray painted them to honor their memories."

"Isn't that Vandalism?" Lara pointed out.

"No. In our world, shows of faith like this are welcome. In times like these, we can't refuse any goodwill our citizens have."

The four girls looked in awe of the mural. Alex reached out and touched it.

"Come," Histoire called, " We have a lot to discuss."

She led the girls outside where a heavily modified Purple Testarossa Spider was waiting for them.

"Hop in," Histoire said as she floated over and rested on a tiny seat that seemed to be made especially for her.

"Wait... We're all too young to drive." Lara pointed out, missing a glare from Maya

"No need to worry, It's a self-driving car patterned after one of Planeptune's most popular race cars. It can go from 0 to 100 in just 3 seconds, and it can go fast without sacrificing control."

"A self-driving car that can go fast?! Really? That's so cool!" Maya gushed

"Nep-..." Histoire stopped herself, "Our CPU Candidate made this, and it's one of Planeptune's contributions to Gamindustri."

"So this thing exists everywhere in this world. Oh man, I wish we got one of these back home!"

They rode through the city, which was destroyed beyond recognition. From what the girls gathered, it was a very futuristic city with every building that was not destroyed having a silver finish. Purple lines ran through the sidewalks adding to the look of the city. At the center of it all was a tower that jutted up from the ground like an antenna, adorned with purple accents. However, what looked like what should've been a beacon of hope seemed like a monument to despair. The tower giving off a dark and dreadful aura.

"I see destroyed buildings and scary creatures roaming all over the place. What happened here?" Alex suddenly asked.

"The Deity of Sin…" Histoire answered darkly

"What's that?" Hotaru asked, shivering at the name.

"A demon from our past, We thought that we defeated it once already,"

"And then it came back" Lara concluded.

"When it emerged, the CPUs and CPU Candidates from all nations rose up to fight it." Histoire explained to the four girls, "Even some of our former rivals, The Gold Third, had lent some of their power to help. In the end, It wasn't enough."

The car parked at an building that was fully intact and its doors automatically opened as they walked towards the glass door. "Follow me." Histoire led the girls inside the building until they reached a run-down room that had one futuristic-looking computer and a table with various papers on it.

"With our CPUs gone, most of their shares went to the Deity herself. With our land going to ruin the Gold Third started the resistance. It was their power that allowed the CPU's spirits to live on."

Histoire floated to the computer and typed in some commands.

"So, how do we get back?" Lara asked

"I… You can't. I'm sorry..." Histoire lowered her head, her bangs obscuring her eyes.

"What do you mean, 'you can't'? _You_ brought _us_ here!"

Histoire turned to face the girls, "The world is in a great crisis and only you four can save it!"

"Lara, listen to Histoire. She didn't transport us to another world without some reason." Alex said, putting her hand on the taller girl's shoulder

"So, why are we even here?" Lara grumbled.

"You were chosen for your closeness to the CPUs," Histoire explained.

"But… we never knew any of these goddesses." Hotaru tried to rebuke.

"Your closeness in spirit, I mean… It's hard for even me to explain…"

The computer pulled up some maps and some sort of progress report.

"What's this?" Maya asked.

"These are the locations where we think the Spirits may be…"

"Wait, these spirits are like… actual things?"

"Why, yes!" Histoire exclaimed as though what she said was obvious, "Which reminds me, If you are to utilize the CPU spirits, you're going to need a way to channel Share Energy. Most of us here can do it to some extent but, you four are from a world without Share Energy and therefore might not be able to channel it properly."

The four girls just stood there staring vacantly.

"So I took the liberty of bestowing to you girls these devices." Histoire continued as though they had understood her.

The girls felt a vibration in their pockets and they took out small handheld devices. Each had a small screen, a grip, a couple of buttons, and what looked to be a scanner on top. Each device was also colored to suit their owners: Alex's had a purple body with a pink grip, Lara's had a black body with a white grip, Maya's a white body and a green grip, Hotaru's was special in that the grip was white, the front body was light blue, and the back of the body was pink.

"Wait…" Lara said while inspecting her new mysterious device, _"WERE THESE OUR PHONES!?"_

"I do apologize, They were the only things I could work with, given our resources," Histoire stated.

Lara lunged at the fairy, with only Alex and Maya holding her back, "I spent a fortune for that phone, and you just changed it like it's _nothing_? Do you know how much value it has to me?! _Who gave you permission to modify my bloody phone?!_ "

"Like I said earlier; It was the only thing I had, and I have to use existing resources..." Histoire replied, now hiding behind her tome.

" **No.** My friends and family would be _worried sick_ right now. Like... how would I explain to them that I was whisked away to _another world!?_ " Lara was on the verge of tears.

"Calm down, Ms. Strife." Histoire floated over the the girl and patted her head, It was a cute, yet motherly gesture coming from the tiny fairy, "There's a large time difference between this world and yours. I don't know the exact specifics, but a year here is just approximately an hour on your home dimension. Maybe a month, at the very most."

"I think Miss Histoire knows what she is doing." Hotaru said

"I agree to that. Let's just let her work, it's been about three minutes." Maya tried to handle the situation.

"We _kinda_ need them though!"

"Lara, please." Hotaru tried to console.

"If it is any consolation, your phones would have been useless in this world anyway…"

"But you were able to contact us," Alex reasoned.

"Yes, but it took a lot of our resources, In fact, we pretty much used a large chunk of our spare Share Energy just for getting you girls here."

Histoire indicated the report on the computer screen.

* * *

 **Share Report**

 **Planeptune:** 5%

 **Lastation:** 5%

 **Lowee:** 5%

 **Leanbox:** 5%

 **Other:** 80%

* * *

"What's 'Other'?" Hotaru asked.

"It's used as a placeholder for organizations that are not properly recognized by Gamindustri. In this case, it refers to the Deity of Sin and her Followers." Histoire explained, " And due to this Share drain, we haven't been able to find any of their spirits. We… We don't even know what they would look like…" She gave a weary sigh.

Alex stepped up to Histoire, "Miss Histoire, We'll do everything we can to help you."

"Thank you, Miss Rose."

Maya crossed her arms, "So where is this Resistance you're talking about?"

"Well we are spread all over Gamindustri, but the main team over here in Planeptune are actually searching for a spirit in one of our old technology plants… Nepgear really liked to visit it."

"Alright!" Maya Shouted, "Let's do this!"

The girl turned around and ran out the door.

* * *

"Miss Valera, wait!" Histoire

"We'll go get her." Lara volunteered while the other two girls nodded.

"No, you don't understand!" in the space of a few seconds Histoire floated there, alone, "It's… dangerous… Out there…"

Maya paused her run to rest her legs. She then took a look at her surroundings. The city looked like It was the pinnacle of technological advancement at one point, but now it just looked like a run down ghost town. From what she could tell, Maya was in the warehouse district, every building around her looked like a run down garage. Maya wasn't even sure that there was any color in the city.

"Hmm, So where was this plant?" She asked herself.

"You don't even know!?"

Maya turned to see Lara, Alex, and Hotaru running after her. The three girls had to catch their breath after catching up to her. Lara stood straight and crossed her arms.

"You ran off, and you don't even know where you're going?" She scolded.

Maya chuckled weakly and scratched the back of her head, "I… I thought I got enough of the map…"

Lara shook her head, "Honestly, we're stuck in a strange world that's in the middle of a war. Going off alone is the worst thing you can do."

Maya scratched her cheek, "Um… yeah… Sorry, I guess I just got tired of the explanations… I needed fresh air."

"Um… guys…" Alex piped up, "Does anyone know where the base is?"

The three other girls froze. Lara glared at Maya again.

"Well I hope you're happy," Lara scolded, "Now we're lost in a completely strange place, and Who knows what could happen!"

"What and have you freaking out again?" Maya defended, "That's the worst thing you can do in a situation like this!

"Guys, please don't argue," Hotaru pleaded,

"How can you say that!?" Lara squawked, "We're in a world with tiny fairies and a bunch of weird monsters! We're away from our friends and family with no way to contact them! And now we're filling in for some _dead goddesses!_ I don't remember signing up for that, do you?"

"Of course not!" Maya yelled back, "But I wouldn't have gotten anywhere in my life just worrying all the time!"

Just then a piece of a nearby building crumbled, revealing a giant mech walker.

"Guys…" Alex piped up with a hint of fear in her voice.

" **What?!** " the two shouted in unison.

The walker sensed the noise and shambled towards the girls.

"We should run," Maya said

"Agreed." Lara replied.

The four girls tried to run, but even though the mech's legs were damaged, they were still stronger. The Mech lunged one of its claws at Maya. Thinking quickly, Alex tackled Maya but was taken herself.

The three other girls ducked. The mech walked passed them, carrying Alex with it.

"Let me go, you piece of junk! _Help_!"

"Crap, we gotta go after it!" Maya shouted.

"And what are _we_ gonna do?" Lara asked.

"I… I don't know, but it's my fault that Alex got captured."

"We… We should at least see where it's taking her" Hotaru said.

The two other girls nodded and ran after the mech.

* * *

"Find anything yet, Compa?" IF called to her companion while she herself was digging around the old plant. Said plant was repurposed as a junkyard with machines and abandoned tech. Most of them are in full working condition, yet the place was so deserted, majority of the machines has gathered dust on them. Compa scavenged through the rubble, only to find nothing.

"Nothing yet, Iffy" Compa called back.

IF sighed, "Come on, Gear, don't you want to be found?"

Alarms sounded inside the building, and all the red lights turned on, turning the room red.

"Aw man, Seriously?"

Compa ran to IF, "Iffy, we should leave."

IF sighed, "Yeah… I guess we should…"

A mech then crashed into the room, waving a girl with brown hair around. Said girl was struggling to get out of the mech's strong grip.

"Who's that?" Compa asked, "I thought we evacuated everyone to Ultradimension."

"Gamindustri is a big place" IF replied, "There's bound to be some people going through the cracks.

IF produced her Claws, "We still gotta save her though."

The two attacked the mech. And since the mech's legs were already damaged, It gave way. With some momentum, the mech actually threw the girl into the air and she landed on some Machinery.

* * *

"My goodness, that was an awful fall,"

Alex groaned, she was not expecting any of this. Almost everything hurt, but at least she was alive...

"Ugh, I can't feel my arm... or my leg.." She coughed as she tried to get up from the rubble, only to find that she could barely move at all. _"Oh no..."_ What did she feel poking in her back? There was a wet sensation spreading outward from the unseen wound. She couldn't turn her head to even assess the damage. Hot tears prickled at her eyes as no matter how hard she tried nothing was working. Her body refused to move beyond twitches and spasms.

"Are you alright?"

"Who… Who's talking? Those two other girls are still fighting that machine…"

The air around Alex glowed a pinkish purple and the coalesced into what looked like a Trophy of a young girl wearing a white cybernetic bodysuit hugging her legs to her face. Alex's Device started reacting.

"My name is Nepgear, do you need my help?"

Alex weakly took her device out of her pocket with her only good arm and pointed it at the trophy.

" _Please…_ Help me…" Alex said, breathing heavily as she reached out to the light.

The trophy glowed in the same light purple tint as before and went into the device. The Device itself emitted a flash of blinding light.

* * *

Alex found herself in some sort of Digital Dimension, presenting her device. Her body, which was suddenly healed, moved in a way that felt like it was moving on its own, yet at the same time in perfect harmony with herself.

She extended her hand out and a Ring of data- "Share Code" she was being told by a voice in the back of her mind- appeared around her hand. She took her device, pressed the side button, and scanned the share code around her hand.

 _"Access: Sister Spirit Evolution!"_

She whipped her device upward and took the code with it. Her clothes dematerialized around her, though thankfully the code kept her decency.

As the code swirled around Alex, a white cybernetic bodysuit wrapped around her. She gained long white gloves and knee-length boots. She closed her eyes as her hair grew in length and changed its color to pink. Her hands became daintier, her legs sculpted themselves and her chest filled out to fit the suit better.

Armor parts appeared on her boots, cybernetic wings popped up behind her back, and a hair clip appeared on the right-hand side of her head. Her face drastically changed as the last of the transformation takes place.

A giant sword with a gun mounted on it appeared. Alex opened her eyes, revealing that they changed to a light blue color and her pupils changed shape to look like power buttons. She grabbed her weapon and swung it as if she had years of experience in training with her signature weapon.  
She then ended it with a flourish.

" _Spirit of Planeptune: Purple Sister!"_

* * *

IF was shielding her eyes from the flash. When it died down, her eyes went wide. Floating in front of her was the spitting image of Purple Sister, her gaze fixed squarely on the mech in front of her.

"Ge-Ge?" Compa asked in disbelief.

"Did we… find a Spirit?" IF asked in a similar tone.

"I think we did." Compa finished.

Even damaged the mech was still a serious threat. The armored torso and weapons were largely functional even if the legs had taken a beating. Its targeting system classified Purple Sister as the greater threat and proceeded to open up with all weapon systems. Beams, bullets, and missiles were unleashed in an unceasing volley. IF and Compa looked on in worry as the Goddess Candidate remained still in the face of the ordinance.

"Hoh!" Purple Sister dashed forward through the air while slashing her gunblade through the bullets. She did a midair twirl around the beams gracefully while using the momentum of the evasion to slice through the propulsion system on the missiles. The missiles exploded behind her in a dramatic spray as she jammed the blade of her weapon in the mech's torso. Her first blast punched through the armor and exposed the core. Three more shots cracked the core and disabled the mech.

With its health at critical, a ring of share code appeared around it. Purple Sister held out a device that IF had never seen before. She pushed the side button and a small flame lit on top of it.

 _"Share Code, Digitize!"_

Purple Sister then swept the device along the code, scanning it and pulling it in.  
when the last of the code disappeared into the device. The mech dissolved into a cloud of pixels.

Purple Sister landed in front of IF and let out a sigh and detransformed.

 _'Who is this girl? Wait... Wasn't she the one that was tossed by that mech?'_ IF thought as she observed the strange brown-haired girl.

"Alex!" IF heard three voices cry, and the three other girls ran into the building. The girl wearing a ponytail caught Alex as she collapsed from exhaustion.

"Are you alright?" Lara asked.

"Y-Yeah… just a little overwhelmed."

"Aw man, Alex, I'm so sorry!" A girl wearing a black and green jacket cried, "I shouldn't have let you take the fall for me back there!"

"It's alright, Maya, I-I think I found a spirit."

"Was that what happened?" The small blonde girl questioned, "We came in when you transformed… was that one of the Goddesses? I recognize her from somewhere..."

"That was Nepgear," IF said stepping up to the four girls, "Also known as Purple Sister. Like the name says she was the sister to the main Goddess of this country."

The four girls looked at IF, wondering where she had come from.

"Oh, sorry, I guess it's pretty rude of me not to introduce myself. I'm -"

"IF, the 'Wind Walker of Gamindustri'…" Alex interrupted and then pointed to Compa who was joining the group, "and you're Compa."

Compa froze in place and nodded nervously.

"You know them?" Lara asked.

"Well… It's strange." Alex said, "I've barely just met them, but feels like they practically raised me."

IF smiled at that, "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"That's not the only strange thing," Alex continued, "Before, I barely knew how to work Twi- err, Chirper, that's what it's called in this world, but now I know all about share mechanics and robotics… I think I could build a robot from scratch if I really wanted to."

IF took the girl on to her shoulders, "Hey, don't strain yourself too much. Let's get back to base and Histoire can explain everything."

"Hey, Maya?" Maya looked back and saw Lara crossing her arms nervously, "I… I'm sorry about how I was acting… earlier, I mean."

"Oh yeah," Maya acknowledged, while scratching the back of her head, " It's cool, I mean, You're right, we're stuck here and we have no idea what's going on… I should realize that not everyone's as adventurous as me… "

"Still though," Lara said, "We do have to stick together."

"Yeah, definitely, sticking together no matter what. For now though, we need to let Alex rest."

* * *

 **Share Report**

 **Planeptune:** 6%

 **Lastation:** 5%

 **Lowee:** 5%

 **Leanbox:** 5%

 **Other:** 79%

* * *

NEPSTATION

Neptune: It's Nepstation! And being dead doesn't stop me from being your host: Neptune! I have two guests with me today, Nepgear and Alexandra Rose!

Alex: Umm… What?

Neptune: It's our totally Non-canon Episode Preview!

Nepgear: You'll get used to it.

Neptune: Anyway, Doesn't it kind of suck that we're dead to begin with in this fic?

Nepgear: I must admit it's sort of disorienting being somewhere between being dead and alive, but I do hope that my memories are helpful.

Alex: There is a lot to sort through actually…

Neptune: Don't worry about it, Lexi, we can help you in any way we can!

Alex: Well actually, Miss Neptune, I do have one question: What's a Gehaburn?

Nepgear: GAH! She even remembers _that_!?

Neptune: Oooh, yeah, we should get to the Episode Preview before Lexi's head explodes.

Nepgear: "With the spirit of Purple Sister at hand, it's time to finally take back the Basilicom!" Next chapter: Purple Progress at last!

Alex: Miss Nepgear… what are you doing? Please, there has to be another way!

Nepgear: Miss Rose, please remember something else, _**ANYTHING else**_!


	3. Purple Progress, at last!

"Purple Progress at Last"

I woke up. Something wasn't quite right. Turning in my bed, I saw that my sister wasn't lying next to me. Wait, Sister? I've never had a... No, I do have a sister. Of course I have a sister. Neptune's always been there. Still, it's strange to see her up before me. ...Where did she go? I should look for her.

I walked around the tower to finally see Neptune at her desk, writing on some kind of document.. She... looks smaller than I- Oh, I remember now! Even though she's my older sister, I'm the taller one. Because of that, people mistake me as Neptune's older sister... Neptune looked up and saw me, smiling..

"Good morning, Nep Jr. How'd you sleep?"

"Big sis?" Wait, I'm not the one who's talking. But why is my mouth moving? ...It's weird. It's like I'm on autopilot or something. "What's going on?"

Neptune sat up in her chair and grins. "We got a lead on that syndicate that's been stealing Shares from us, so the gals and I are going to Nep them up!"

"Oh, that's great!"

"You know, it's meant to be just us CPUs, but this kinda thing is gonna be a breeze." Neptune looked up in thought. "Would ya like to come with us, Little ol' Nep o' mine?"

I could feel my eyes widen in excitement. My head nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes!" My voice was just as enthusiastic.

Suddenly, the image in front of me- my sister grinning at me- cracked. Then it shattered, leaving me to see nothing… but a blank white void.

"...That was the day we went to the Gamindustri Graveyard," I heard my voice again, in the void. But I wasn't talking. Instead, the voice sounded like it was coming from behind me. Turning around, I saw an exact copy of me looking off into the white void. "My world opened up, from then on..."

Wait, that's not me! I'm right here!

The other copy glanced at me, making a sorrowful smile.

"Hello, Alexandra Rose. My name is Nepgear." ...I'm Alexandra? No, that's not right…

"You need to remember. Our personalities are fusing." We…

"...We're fusing?"

"I'm sorry," Nepgear says while looking me in the eyes. "My spirit is sort of taking over yours. I can't really control it, but It shouldn't be too bad. I'll still be me, and you'll still be you, for the most part. As long as we can recognize ourselves as two different people, we should be okay." Then… I'm not Nepgear. I-I…

"I... I..." I can't say the words, but they're coming to me. I think.. I'm Alexandra Rose… I'm a girl from… from…

"Don't hurt yourself trying to force things. I know it's very overwhelming."

"Nep...gear..." Nepgear's lips turned upwards, putting me at ease.

"Miss Rose, I truly am grateful for everything you're doing. Please find my sister, okay?" Wait, what's going on!? A bright light is blinding my eyes! W-Wait, Nepgear!

* * *

Alex stirred on her cot. Opening her eyes, she found IF and Compa were sitting beside her.

"Feeling better, Lex?" Alex weakly turned her head towards IF.

"I-Iffy…"

"Heh, I guess you do know us."

Compa leaned in and gently placed her hand on Alex's forehead.

"Are you sure you're okay, Lexi? You were hurt real bad before you transformed." Compa said. Alex twitched a bit as she tried to push past Compa's hand.

"I-I'm fine Compa… Just… a headache… that's all" Alex said as she sat up.

"Running off like that was very irresponsible, Miss Valera!" Histoire scolded. "There are monsters everywhere and none of you girls have experience! Not only that, you put Miss Rose in danger!"

"Hm?" Alex looked towards the door.

IF chuckled, "Histoire's been preaching to your friends since you guys got here. Something about a riot act and whatnot."

Alex got up from her cot and walked into the room where they were told about the spirits, hearing the faint voice of Histoire coming from it.

Sure enough, Histoire was on her Tome chewing Maya out. Despite her small stature, Histoire's voice was loud and booming. Alex was surprised she didn't hear Histoire in the first place. Maya was on her knees as Histoire floated back and forth, her lecture continuing without a seeming end.

Maya refused to make eye contact with the book fairy, staring at her lap as Histoire droned on. Maya felt smaller than Histoire, which is actually quite the accomplishment.

Lara and Hotaru were taken aback by the surprising ferocity of the small fairy. The latter was hiding behind the former, trembling.

Alex chuckled nervously. For some reason, she felt like she's seen many of such scoldings from Histoire, and has been on the receiving end of some, too.

The four girls looked behind them and immediately showered Alex with hugs. Lara and Maya buried Alex deep into their arms as they could. Maya nuzzled her face into Alex's, ignoring the other girl's surprise. Meanwhile, Hotaru tried to push her way into the group hug as well. However, the tightness of the hug prevented her from doing so. With each push, Hotaru bounced away from the group until one hard push knocked her onto the ground. Glancing around, the smaller girl squeezed her eyes shut and tried to hug the entire trio. Hotaru's arms barely reached past Lara and Maya's waists. Eventually, Alex nudged towards the other two and gestured towards Hotaru. Smiling, the three broke free of Hotaru's pseudo-cling and engulfed her into the hug as well. Histoire was content to place herself on top of Alex, using Lara and Maya to keep her balance.

Histoire let out a small sigh, calming herself down, "Alright girls, that's enough. It seems that a lot of good came from such irresponsible actions."

She floated over to Alex. "Are you okay, Miss Rose? Compa told me about your injuries." Alex nodded.

"I'm fine. All the pain, and the injuries, disappeared when I transformed." Alex reported.

"So you did acquire a spirit?"

Alex nodded again. Suddenly, she started to glow a pinkish purple light and the spirit coalesced itself and materialized as a small statue in front of her.

Histoire stared at the statue when tears began falling from her eyes. "Nepgear… I'm so sorry."

"Aw, don't cry, Histy," Alex consoled. "I'm here now!"

Alex paused and blinked, then shook her head. "Histy? I never called you that before… But I feel like I have…" Alex put a finger on her cheek. "I think it was in my dream."

Histoire wiped her tears away, catching onto Alex's last sentence. "Your dream?" Alex gave a slight nod, crossing her arms and closing her eyes.

"Yeah, I had one while I was unconscious. In that dream, I was Nepgear. And Neptune was asking for me to go to the Gamindustri Graveyard with her."

Histoire gaped, "Interesting… Could it be that Nepgear's memories are bleeding into your own?"

"W-what the Goodness?" Alex cried. She clapped her hands over her mouth. After a second, she shook her head. "What does that even mean?" Histoire made a small gesture towards Alex, eventually tracing a circle around her.

"It means that you and Nepgear have formed a bond, one that is slowly manifesting Nepgear within you." Histoire stopped tracing the circle and pointed straight at Alex. "As such, this is causing Nepgear's and your personalities to merge into one being." Alex took a step back slowly reaching a hand over her heart.

"D-D-Does that mean I'm slowly turning into Nepgear?" Histoire nodded and Alex turned away, wide-eyed. _"Then, that means all that stuff that Nepgear was telling me was true?!"_

Histoire tilted her head to the side, crossing her arms.

"Although it shouldn't be anything too drastic; but you will inherit certain characteristics of Nepgear's. In some cases, you may even emulate her completely for a bit.. Fortunately, you will still be yourself for most of the time."

"Oh… " Alex glanced at her own hands, both of them suddenly feeling heavier than before. "I don't think I can handle this, Histy," Alex muttered nervously as she looked down with her hands on her skirt. "I'm not ready to be some kind of Video Game Goddess and save Gamindustri..."

Histoire floated in front of Alex and gently touched her face. "I know you and your partners can save our world, Alex. I believe in you." Histoire assured in a very firm tone.

"Umm. Thank you, I guess..." Alex felt a small amount of pressure float off her shoulders. It wasn't much, but Alex was grateful for it.

"So, Miss Histoire, does this mean the same will happen to us when we get our spirits as well?" Hotaru said, popping out behind Lara.

"Unfortunately yes, Miss Iwata." Histoire turned to Hotaru. "If this has happened with Alex, it will most certainly happen to you." Histoire visibly shuddered after she said that line. She can't imagine the currently meek and shy Hotaru having the violently colorful personality of Lowee's Goddess. She shook her head to get rid of such thoughts.

"Anyway, Miss Rose. Are you ready to introduce yourself to the Resistance?" Histoire asked, shifting the topic to prevent herself from thinking about the image that popped into her head..

"I am ready, Miss Histy!" Alex responded with confidence.

* * *

Histoire led the four girls to another room within the base with IF and Compa following close behind. Inside the room was another computer with several monitors, and standing in front of the computer was a small blonde girl in an orange dress. Behind her were two other girls sitting at an orange table minding their own business. One was a girl with red hair polishing a large sword. The other one was a young teen with long purple hair wearing a black hoodie, who was currently scarfing down a plate of pudding. The blonde-haired girl turned around once she heard the doors open.

"Hey, Histoire! Did we finally get some new recruits?" The small girl asked with excitement in her voice.

"Yes, B-Sha. More accurately, these four girls are the ones I brought in from the VR Dimension," Histoire answered.

"Wait, does that mean…?" The red haired girl, Falcom, placed her sword on the table and trailed off.

Histoire nodded. "These girls have been chosen to be the Champions of Gamindustri."

Maya chuckled, feeling bubbles of pride rise within her. "Champions, huh? I kinda like it."

"And it just so happens that Miss Alexandra Rose here is the Champion of Planeptune."

Alex squeaked and stood at attention, a blush tingeing her cheeks.

"She has acquired the spirit of Purple Sister." Histoire continued.

Alex once again started to glow a pinkish purple as her spirit manifested beside her. The now dubbed Champion of Planeptune was startled.

"Why…" Alex started but stopped when she noticed the statue shake. Almost as if the statue was happy. Feeling warmth grow in her chest, Alex realized what was happening and smiled.. "I see, she wants to see her—our friends again…"

The girl wearing the black hoodie with purple accents, stood up, her long purple hair swaying as she sauntered up to Alex. "So I guess that means you're my new little sister, huh?" Alex blinked once. When the girl in the black hoodie didn't say anything, Alex blinked twice.

"Um… what?" The girl in the black hoodie grinned, giving Alex the peace sign.

"Oh, of course! I'm Neptune, nice to meetcha, little sis!"

Alex gaped, combing through Nepgear's memories for help.

"Oh, don't act so surprised, the readers would riot if there wasn't at least one Nep in the first few chapters."

"You're… from another dimension... " Alex said, trying to wrap her head around the bigger Neptune's utter disregard for the fourth wall. It's at this point that the two authors can and will try to reign Neptune in, even with the changes. We'll see how that goes. Our Beta readers don't think so.

Neptune smiled at the author's exasperation. "Yep! I actually came from the Ultradimension, although I haven't been there in, like, forever! Lil' me and Nepgear were letting me crash at their place until… well…" Neptune made an awkward shrug. Alex could see a pained look in Neptune's eyes. "...you know…"

Alex felt a pang of sadness surge through her. She could practically feel Nepgear's lingering regrets.

"At least the citizens are safer in your dimension and didn't suffer the same fate as this dimension's Neptune and Nepgear..." Falcom pointed out.

B-sha coughed into her fist, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. "Anyways... Now that we have a spirit, we can finally try to take the Basilicom back!"

Hotaru tilted her head. "Basilicom?"

"The base of operations for the goddesses," Alex explained. "My-er, Nepgear's home."

"All four Basilicoms were taken by ASIC after the CPUs fell." Histoire explained, "I suppose we can claim it now that we have Purple Sister."

"Is there a security measure that requires some sort of identity verification in order to break in? I can't seem to recall installing one myself." Alex placed a finger on her chin, but then shook her head, "I mean… Nep—... Ugh, you know what I mean."

Histoire smiled sadly as Alex tried to straighten herself out. "Like everything, the Sharicite within the Basilicoms has been corrupted. To truly claim it for ourselves, we have to purify it, and only the goddess that came from the sharicite can do that."

"Alright!" B-sha shouted, jumping on the table and producing her Preto mask, "It's going to be our standard moving plan. Neptune, IF, Compa, you guys are escorting the Champions while Falcom and I provide cover! That's going to be 1000 Credits."

"Hold on!" Maya cried, "What's a 'credit'?"

"The 'Credit' is the currency of Gamindustri, used across all nations." Alex explained "And... wait a second B-sha, are you trying to charge us again?"

"B-sha, Please…" Histoire chided.

B-sha scratched the back of her head, making an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, old habit…"

"Wait, you said something about a moving plan?" Lara cried, "And we're coming too!? But I don't know how to fight!" Lara turned to Hotaru and Maya. "Do either of you know how?"

Hotaru shook her head violently while Maya scratched the back of her head. "I mean, I've gotten in a couple of scrapes before, but I don't think I'd be able to take on an actual monster."

"Yeah, sorry about this," IF apologized, "But this base is temporary, always was."

"The monsters made it impossible to stay in one place for too long, so we just keep moving around the city." Compa added.

"You girls don't need to worry!" Neptune cheered. "Iffy, Compa, and I are something of a dream team! We'll make sure you girls are safe."

"Still the same Nep, no matter what dimension she's from," IF mused. "Which reminds me…"

IF walked over to a chest and grabbed something that looked like a white handle attached to a purple circle. She tossed it to Alex. Alex inspected it and a pink blade suddenly popped out of it. Despite this being her first time seeing it, Alex felt as if the blade's appearance was normal to her.

"The Beam Saber…" Alex said as she did a couple of practice swings.

"Thought it could come in handy," IF said as she winked at Alex. "Come on, It's time to go home."

* * *

"You really think it's a good idea for us to do this?" a small black mouse, Warechu, asked.

"I don't know what you're so worried about, that crystal's been pumping out monsters ever since we took the Planeptower. Only an idiot would try to raid the place," his companion, a young gray-skinned girl with elf ears named Linda (called Underling by most people), replied.

The two were within Virtua Forest, on the outskirts of the city. Weaving through its many trees and ignoring its pitifully weak monsters, Warechu and Linda were planting red X-shaped crystals on the ground as they walked.

"Besides," Linda continued, "do _**you**_ want to be the first person the Boss sees when she gets back?"

"You got a point there, that blue-haired weirdo scares me more than the Hag ever did. She kept muttering things like plunging the world into eternal despair and stuff. Honestly, where did she even come from?" Warechu complained.

"Don't know, don't care. I just want to get this done so she doesn't plunge _me_ into eternal despair."

The pair walked off, as the patches of grass that the crystals were dropped on started to turn from a healthy green to a dull brown.

"Hi-yah!" Alex yelled as she sliced through the last of the monsters with her saber. With their health at critical, a shard of the Share Code appeared all around them.

* * *

"Share Code, Digitize!"

Alex made short work of scanning the code, causing all the monsters to disappear in a cloud of pixels.

"I'm glad I can do that without transforming," Alex said with a sigh of relief.

"You're a real natural with that sword, Lex" IF said, an impressed smirk on her face.

Alex blushed while scratching her cheek, "I-It's more Nepgear than anything."

"So this is Planeptower's inner sanctum?" Neptune said, inspecting her surroundings. What Neptune saw before her was a finely decorated room. Fancy colored lights dotted the walls and a long purple carpet had been laid upon the floor leading up to a gigantic set of double doors which would even dwarf an ancient dragon.

"Can't say I've seen this before in any of the dimensions I've been in." Neptune finished her thought.

"It's usually locked off from everybody except the CPU and their Oracle. Sometimes really close friends come by here." IF looked at Alex, "Anything could be behind this door, Lex, Are you ready?"

Alex nodded. IF opened the door to reveal an Ancient Dragon waiting for the group in the Sharicite sanctum.

Neptune's eyes lit up, "Ooooh, an Ancient Dragon! Never thought I'd fight one in this dimension!"

"Focus, Nep!" IF shouted, "We're going to have to go all out."

Alex took out her Digivice and fragments of Share Code wrapped around her, forming some sort of egg-shaped cocoon. In a flash, the Share Code dissolved and revealed Purple Sister in Alex's place. Gunblade in hand, Alex lifted off the ground and darted towards the monster. Neptune and IF covered their faces as the wind blast from Purple Sister's flight obscured their vision.

"Wha-Hey!" IF shouted. Alex turned her head around, eyes wide.

"Sorry!" As Alex was calling back at IF, the Ancient Dragon raised one of its large, powerful claws.

"Lex, above you!" Alex looked up to see the Dragon's claw falling towards her. Whipping her body around, Alex created a platform under her feet and kicked off of it. The Ancient Dragon's claw slammed the platform into the floor. The monster's palm crushed the platform and part of the floor with it.

Alex skidded across the ground, jumping into the air. Holding her weapon high above her head, Alex cleared the dragon's height and fell straight for the monster's head.

"Take this!" Alex swung her weapon into the dragon's head, expecting another clean cut like many of the monsters before. However, her weapon stuck into the dragon's thick scales upon contact. "...Huh?"

The Ancient Dragon roared as it shoved Alex off of it, and knocking her weapon out of her hands. Her eyes following her weapon, Alex suddenly felt a crushing grip around her entire body. The dragon had her in its claws and she couldn't break free. Alex stared at the monster, eyes widening.

"Uh oh…" The Ancient Dragon brought Alex close to her, opening its mouth wide. Gasping, Alex desperately reached out for her weapon.

"Lex!" IF, who was running into the fray, sped up. Meanwhile, Neptune was rubbing tears out of her eyes. Quatars out and ready, she began slicing at the Ancient Dragon's legs as soon as she reached it. Just like with Alex's gunblade, IF's weapons bounced off the dragon's scales harmlessly.

As the Ancient Dragon's jaw began to close over Alex's upper body, her gunblade reappeared in her hand. Alex, acting on instinct, thrusted her gunblade upwards and her free arm downwards. The gunblade lodged itself between the dragon's upper rows of teeth, while Alex hand clasped onto the dragon's gums. The latter of which caused Alex to convulse and nearly have the dragon's jaw collapse on her.

"Ew- Ew- Ew!" Even with her newfound strength, Alex was struggling to keep the dragon's teeth at bay. "This. Is. _Gross!"_

Glancing up, IF let out a frustrated grunt and pulled out her pistol. The girl began frantically alternating between swiping and shooting at the dragon.

"Hold on little sis!" Neptune, having cleared her eyes of any annoying tears, rushed onto the scene. "Imma comin!" The dragon's jaw began to start closing on Alex.

"Please, _hurry!_ " A sparkle appeared in Neptune's eyes as she held two large sword in both hands.

"Don't ya worry!" Neptune leaped towards the Ancient Dragon's stomach, crossing both arms. _"Raging Rush!"_ Alex froze as the attack's name reached her ears.

"That sounds like…"

Releasing a flurry of slashes into the Dragon's softer belly, Neptune raised both arms above one side of her head and swung down as hard as she could. Noticing Neptune's attacks causing the dragon to flinch, IF kicked off the monster's leg and swung her quatars into the cuts that Neptune made.

Backflipping off of the Ancient Dragon's stomach, IF pointed her pistol at the injuries and emptied her clip into it. Neptune also pulled out her own pistol and did the same.

The barrage of bullets forced the Ancient Dragon to yank Alex out of its mouth, crying in pain. Relieved from not being eaten, Alex felt herself slam against the floor with a loud thud. The dragon had thrown her with all its strength as it backed up in pain. Rushing towards Alex, Neptune picked up the girl while IF kept her eyes on the Ancient Dragon as she backed up. Once Neptune had moved a considerable distance away from the monster, she gently placed Alex on the floor.

"You okay, Lexi?" Alex pushed herself to her knees, nodding in a jerky fashion.

"I'm good. I… think?" Neptune smiled and turned back to the Ancient Dragon. The monster had turned away and its head bent forward. The sounds of licking could be heard coming from it.

"Alright, here's the deal. You know the thing where I did something cool back there? That was one of my special attacks. All of us have one. You should find yours and use it!" Upon hearing Neptune's voice, the Ancient Dragon whipped its body around and released a fiercer roar than before. "Look deep inside your mind, Lex. Try to remember." The monster began thundering over to the trio. IF patted Neptune on the shoulder, with the purple-haired girl nodded in response. Without another word, IF ran towards the dragon. Alex tried to reach out to IF but Neptune caught her arm, put at her side, and then put both of her hands on Alex's shoulders.

"Okay. The two of us will distract it, and we'll try to take its attention to us. Aim for its belly and unleash your special attack. Ready?" Alex stared at her hands, closing her eyes.

"Ready!" Neptune grinned and pulled Alex to her feet.

"Alrighty! Let's do this. Raagh!" Letting out the most cheerful battle cry that Alex could ever hear, Neptune ran ahead. Using her speed, Neptune caught up with IF and the two looked towards each other. With one quick nod between the two, and the duo restarted their assault on the dragon.

The Ancient Dragon thrusted both of its claws at the two girls. The two pulled away from each other, dodging both arms. Running behind the dragon, IF and Neptune slashed at its legs, and made noticeable cuts into back of its legs. Small drops of blood began to slowly leak out from the cuts. The Ancient Dragon turned around, attempting to use its tail to swipe at Neptune. Acting quickly, Neptune leapt over the dragon's tail and continuously ran behind the dragon. Firing at the injuries at the dragon's legs, the monster desperately continued its assault on Neptune. With each swipe the dragon made, Neptune danced out of the dragon's grasp. Occasionally, the girl made a pose or a face as if she was enjoying herself.

Meanwhile, IF took the chance to step back and glance at Alex. The girl back on her feet, to IF's relief. Alex currently had her eyes closed, one of her eyes twitched as she racked her brain and Nepgear's memories to find her special move. Letting out a concerned but faithful grunt, IF turned back and held a palm out towards the dragon.

" _Demon Flames!"_ Bursts of fire spontaneously appeared around the dragon's body, causing to flinch. Neptune took this chance to back away from the monster and collect herself. The dragon reached out to Neptune, but retracted its arm as it was engulfed in flames. IF turned to Alex once again. Alex was now pressing her fingers against her temples, slightly slouching and bending her knees. "Anything?" IF called out to Alex. The girl responded by frowning.

"I'm trying!" Alex said as she began knocking against her head with her knuckles. _"Why can't I think of anything?!"_ Alex thought to herself. _"Help me, Nepgear..."_

Alex took a deep breath, remembering Nepgear's words.

" _I am Alexandra Rose, but I'm also Nepgear... I just need to accept her as a part of me…"_

Alex's mind was filled the precise schematics for Purple Sister's gunblade.

" _These images!"_ Alex smiled as her chest welled with hope. _"I can feel our bond! I'm getting there!"_

Alex saw several memories of Nepgear using her weapon, sometimes as an outright gun. Other times, she'd summon her own robots to give her cover fire while she combo-ed the enemy. While this was useful, and cool, Alex knew that she didn't have enough power to pull it off right now.

"ALEX! You can do it! Nngh!" IF had caught the dragon's claw between her quatars, her legs shaking underneath the dragon's force. Opening her eyes to see IF struggling against their opponent, Alex hastily closed her eyes again, her breathing speeding up.

" _Just a little bit more…"_ Alex thought to herself. _"There's one last memory! One where she-"_ Alex's eyes opened up, shining as the name came to her.

"That's it!" Alex cried as she flipped a dial on her sword, "Limiter Release!"

"Yeah, Lil Sis!" Neptune cheered as she dodged the dragon's tail again. "You can Nep this thing up!"

A sudden spike in Share Energy resonated within Alex's body. As the energy within Alex grew, her Gunblade and her eyes began to glow..

Taking a deep breath, Alex then shouted, _"M.P.B.L. Overdrive!_ _"_ Leaping off the ground, Alex flew towards the dragon. _"I'll use all I have on this!"_ Holding her gunblade out, she spun into the dragon with her sword. The sword plunged into the dragon's abdomen, and with all her might, she lifted the dragon off the ground and threw into the air. This allowed IF to drop onto the ground, relieved. While Neptune rushed over to her friend, Alex rapidly shot at the dragon. With each shot, the Ancient Dragon rose higher and higher. As the dragon was reaching the peak of its forced flight, she shot the dragon one last time to keep it airborne a little longer. Then, Alex flew towards it and stabbed the monster right in the stomach, using her new CPU strength to hold her gunblade- and the monster- kept in in it a bright yellow energy from her weapon, she pulled away from the dragon, leaving it in the air inside an electric cage. Alex landed and raised her gunblade high into the air, then lowered so that she was pointing straight at the Ancient Dragon. After a moment, Alex pulled the trigger. A huge laser released from the gunblade. As the laser connected with the monster, Alex grabbed steadied her sword-arm and closed her eyes. Pulling the trigger further, the laser grew in size and enveloped the Ancient Dragon in white light. Alex turned away, her eyes still closed. Once her back faced the monster, the Ancient Dragon suddenly exploded in a sphere of blue energy. Once the sphere dissipated, the dragon dropped onto the floor. The monster lay still without breathing.

Alex smirked to herself as the name of Nepgear's special move came to her.

" _Celestial Severance."_

"Woah…" IF gaped as she witnessed the whole thing, "That was awesome, I knew you had it in you Gea- Lex…" IF was breathing heavily as she let her muscles rest from the Ancient Dragon's standoff.

Share code appeared around the beast, and Alex immediately took out her digivice and pointed it at the monster.

" _Share Code, Digitize!"_

The Dragon disappeared as its code was absorbed and purified, leaving only the Sharicite covered in a shadowy aura.

Alex landed in front of the crystal. The Sharcite flickered in her presence and her digivice reacted to the crystal. Share Code erupted from the device and flew into the crystal. The crystal slowly lost its dark aura and began to glow brightly. It flew around, circled Alex for a second, and placed itself in the center of the room. The Sharcite began to release its own energy, which started flowing through Planeptower. Soon, the tower began powering up. For some reason, Neptune was singing some sort of triumphant song that felt at home in Lowee as this was happening.

Every light in the Planeptower powered on, giving the place the purple color that it had previously lacked. With the power back on, every single of the computers in the Basilicom began to turn on as well.

Histoire sighed happily. _"We aren't winning yet, but it's nice that we're starting to make some headway now. It's better than running away all the time."_

"Miss Histy?" Alex called.

Alex was standing over by one of the larger terminals showing a larger map of the city. While the Planeptower had regained its luster, the rest of the city still looked pretty rundown.

"That's strange…. The Sharicite should be giving power to the rest of the city…" IF mused as she stared at the terminal. Alex stared at the terminal. Suddenly, her eyes widened.

Alex immediately punched in some commands on the keyboard. According to Nepgear's memories, she was the one who designed the system, Alex knew the system very intimately. Alex internally thanked her bond with Nepgear once again. With a couple more commands, the terminal began change the outlook of the city to a grid-based version of it and filled it with color. While Planeptower was highlighted with a purple overlay, the rest of the city was a dull grey.

"It seems like there's something blocking the share energy from reaching the rest of the city." Alex reasoned. "Look, the purple light means that this area has power." She then pointed to the grey regions. "These areas don't have power."

"That is troubling…" Histoire held her chin in thought, "Miss Rose, I want you and the others to investigate this with Compa and IF."

"Are you sure? I-I'm the only one who can transform… I couldn't bear it if any of the others got hurt." Histoire shook her head, giving the girl a reassuring smile.

"IF and Compa are more than capable of protecting you all. We do need to cover as much ground as possible to find the cause of this share blockage."

Alex nodded, still nervous, but with a renewed sense of responsibility. Not just because of Nepgear, but also because she promised to help in any way she could.

* * *

==NEPSTATION 02==

Neptune: Nepstation! And even though Big Me is in this chapter, no one can beat the OG Nep Master! With me is Alexandra Rose and Underling!

Underling: That's not my damn name!

Alex: To be fair, Miss Underling, that's the only name I remember you having.

Underling: *Growls*

Neptune: Well to settle the issue, Can you tell us what your actual name is?

Underling: It's Lin-

Neptune: **IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!**

Underling: W-What?

Neptune: Cause next time, The Resistance is going to find you guys and my beautiful country will be restored! Tune in next time for, "The Tallest of mountains"!

Underling: Did you seriously just set me up to do an episode preview?

Alex: Miss Neptune sure is a handful.


	4. The Tallest of Mountains

SNF 1.4

"The Tallest of Mountains"

The Nepmobile drove the deserted streets of Planeptune, barreling towards the anomaly Alex and company detected. Within the vehicle, IF was fiddling with some phones as Compa piloted. Meanwhile, Hotaru had fallen asleep in the vehicle. Letting out soft snores, the sleeping girl slid to the side and plopped onto Maya's shoulder. Startled, Maya turned to look at Hotaru. After a second, the girl slowly shifted herself so that Hotaru would be comfortable. Once she saw Hotaru make a smile, Maya turned to Hotaru's bag and fished out a random comic. The manga was untranslated, yet the cover was familiar to her. Specifically the busty blonde with a green dress. She returned the book to the bag, and looked out to the window in boredom instead. Alex had lent Lara her new N-Gear. Unfortunately, the Planeptune Network is down due to the anomaly and she instead took a selfie with everyone inside the car.

As they were getting closer and closer to the anomaly, Alex felt a chill run through her body. Shuddering for a second, Alex looked around and her vision blurred for a second. She grasped her head and blinked her eyes, her vision clearing immediately. Confused, Alex wanted to talk to someone about what she felt, but the Nepmobile suddenly slowed down.

"We're here!~~" Compa chimed. Maya woke up Hotaru as everyone else climbed out of the Nepmobile. They were at an intersection near Central Planeptune. Because of the monster infestation in the capital, Compa had moved the Nepmobile a little bit aways from their destination. The girls were surrounded by buildings.. After the quick scan, IF motioned for everyone to gather into a circle.

"Okay, then." IF started, "We gotta see what's stopping the flow of share energy to the rest of the city."

IF produced two cell phones she had been working on. She turned to Alex and Lara.

"Alex, take Lara go investigate the north of the city," IF ordered while giving Alex a pink cell phone, "Compa, you and Hotaru check the southeast. Finally, Maya and I will head southwest and look there. Both of these phones have my main number on them so call me if you find anything." IF reached the white cell phone towards Hotaru.

Hotaru took the white cell phone and nodded along with everyone else.

"We'll see you later, Iffy!" Alex said, "We'll call you if we find something."

Compa then waved goodbye to IF and Alex. "Bye Iffy! Bye miss Lexi!" she then held Hotaru's hand and headed towards their destination.

Breaking off into their pairs, they broke off to find the source of the anomaly. The car then drove itself back to the base, as IF instructed it to do.

* * *

Hotaru and Compa partolled Planepark, which was once a very colorful theme park filled to the brim with people. The famous Green Hill Coaster is now abandoned and the colors are faded out. The Jet Set Skatepark is now littered with small dogoos, and the like. Even their premier motion simulator, the Journey of Dreams was being raided by Z-Bots and Poxvaders.

"Hotaru…" Compa began, while they were walking through the theme park.

"What is it, Miss Compa?" The smaller girl looked at her companion.

"What is your world like?"

Hotaru paused in thought, "Well, for starters, we don't have any goddesses or monsters. We don't have Share Energy, either."

Compa nodded, making a smile. "It must be nice to not have to deal with monsters."

Hotaru glanced at the area around her, seeing all the destroyed stands and street lights.

"Miss Compa, If you don't mind me asking, what was this world like before that Sin Monster arrived?"

Compa sighed, stopping in place. "It was a peaceful world. Of course, Nep-Nep and the other goddesses found ways to make it interesting." Compa made a sad smile at the thought. "Each country was amazing in how they ran themselves: Planeptune always looked so futuristic and shiny, Lastation had a lot of hard-working people making a lot of neat weapons, Leanbox always held itself like a nice countryside, and Lowee was a winter wonderland where it looked like it was always Christmas." Hotaru's blinked. Then her eyes began to shine as the images that Compa described appeared in her head.

"It sounds like something from a Fantasy Novel."

Compa tilted her head to one side, "Do you read a lot, Hotaru?"

Hotaru nodded, "My family moved around a lot, so I read a lot of books to pass the time when we would travel… I guess that's why I don't really know much about my world…."

The two walked quietly for a while, looking for anything strange.

"Miss Compa?" Hotaru started, "What were the Goddesses of Lowee like?"

* * *

"Say, Miss IF... Is your name really like that? Only two letters?"

"Hm?" IF turned to Maya, while still walking through the destroyed part of Planeptune, "Well, it's actually short for Idea–... You know what, just call me 'Iffy'. Everyone else does."

Maya chuckled, "Alright, Miss Iffy, whatever you say." IF rolled her eyes at the comment, making a sound of disgust at the same time.

"Don't call me 'Miss', I'm not an old lady yet."

Maya chuckled again. The two both walked the city for a while, Maya climbing through the various rubble and cracks with ease.

This district was one of the Ground Zeroes of the monster breakout shortly after the CPUs met their demise. The city's Share Shield collapsed, enabling the monsters to invade this town and other parts of the Planeptunian border. The residents were evacuated towards Central Planeptune, before ultimately moving out to the Ultradimension. Collapsed buildings, ruins, destroyed vehicles and various monsters were scattered throughout the area. Maya and IF were travelling away from said monsters, as they didn't want to grab its attention.

"You're pretty good, there, Maya." IF complimented.

"Thanks, Iffy. Freerunning and parkour really helps. I do this all the time back home. Anyways, do you do stuff like this sometimes?" Maya asked.

"Yeah, but I often go in my garage fixing my bikes."

Maya's eyes lit up, "You ride!? Aw, man, we gotta ride together sometime!"

IF stumbled in surprise, but got similarly excited, "We totally should! I even have an Extra… Bike…" IF suddenly trailed off. "On second thought, maybe we should hold off on that."

"Aw come on, you can't just tell me you have an extra bike and leave me hanging!"

"Trust me, if you saw my extra bike, you would know it would need a lot more than just a tune-up."

* * *

They then moved towards the next part of the abandoned town, and continued their search.

"Lara?" Alex asked suddenly.

"Yes, Alex?"

"Have you ever dreamed of somebody else's life as if it is your own?"

Lara raised an eyebrow, "Can't say that I have. Why?"

"It's weird… When I sleep, I dream about Nepgear's life and I even think that I _am_ Nepgear. This isn't the first time the Deity of Sin attacked this realm. I even remembered defeating it so vividly."

"And that'll happen to all of us..."

Alex nodded, "Yeah, It's all so overwhelming. ASIC, Ultradimension, Zerodimension, The Gold Third, even Heartdimension… I remember it all like it was yesterday…"

"Do you experience hallucinations?" Alex shook her head. "Is there anything else you got from Nepgear aside from her memories?" Lara asked out of concern for her friend.

"No, but I think I picked up all her skills at some point." Alex stared at her hands, as if they weren't hers. "I even used her Beam Saber as if I had trained with it for years. It's really weird..."

"That's… I don't know how to feel about that." Lara curiously thought.

"At least Nepgear's nice," Noticing Lara's thoughtful stare, Alex put up a smile.

"Does she talk to you?" Lara asked.

"When I'm sleeping, she tries to remind me of who I am. When I'm awake… It's like... I can feel her reactions to things. Like right now she's apologizing for my dreams."

A faint red glimmer caught Alex's eye. She looked in that direction and sprinted to the red patch. Laying on the ground in front of her were red X-shaped crystals. Alex went to pick one up but paused upon feeling an ominous aura coming from the crystal..

"Alex, what's wrong?" Lara asked. Alex stood up, stepping away and grasping her hand. A small droplet of sweat rolled down her face as she looked at Lara.

"Anti-Share Crystals. Everything in my mind tells me to not pick it up…" Alex explained.

Turning back to the item, Alex stared at the crystal. Even with the memories in her mind that told her not to touch the Anti-Share Crystal, she reached down picked up the dark eerie crystal anyways. Quickly squeezing one eye shut, Alex blinked in surprise when she didn't feel that pain and weakness that Nepgear felt when the CPU Candidate had tapped one. Worried, Alex took out the pink phone that IF had given her earlier.

"I need to contact the others. I don't know who's planting these, but they're bad news!" Alex exclaimed as she dialed IF's main number. Alex's worry slightly vanished when she heard IF's voice over the phone.

"Hello, IF? There are Anti-Share Crystals here. I'm not affected or weakened by it." Alex explained to IF. "Please do. I need everyone in here, and I don't know what it contains. Thanks, Iffy." Alex hung up after the call, letting out a sigh of relief. Turning to Lara, Alex smiled.

* * *

"And so we wait for the others to arrive." Unbeknownst to the two girls, they were being watched from the shadows. Dark blue eyes, burning with contempt and a hint of sadness considered the two Champions.

"Hmph, Leave the Underling in charge for one minute and look at what happens…" She crossed her arms and walked deeper into the shadows, "These champions have no chance against the power of delusion."

* * *

"Alex!"

The other two teams met up with Alex and Lara at Virtua Forest. The grass surrounding them was a dull brown. The trees were barren, missing their leaves and a pale gray color. The once fertile land had dried up and lost all its luster,small patches of sand picked up from the dirt and flew with the wind. The clearing they were in looked like it has been struck by a plague, and terrifying the girls, especially Hotaru, with its eerie look.. Alex was still holding the Anti-Share Crystal on her hands. Lara waved over to the girls as they approached the two.

"Hey, IF. Compa. We've been waiting for you guys."

IF held out her hand, prompting Alex to hand the crystal over. IF then inspected the crystal.  
"Definitely an Anti-Share Crystal," IF confirmed, "How are you holding it? These things are outright deadly for CPUs!"

"Maybe because Lexi is still human even though she can transform into Ge-Ge..." Compa theorized.

Alex picked another crystal off the ground, inspected it, and then crushed it in her hand. The red dust blowing away in the wind. Lara, Hotaru, and Maya did the same.

"Hey, it isn't so bad. Now to destro–"

A red flash erupted from the dark mist that formed out of the destroyed crystals. When it died down, a Fenrir stood in front of the girls, ready to attack.

"What is that?!" Hotaru exclaimed in terror of the massive hound.

"I totally forgot about a monster spawning when you destroy a bunch of Anti-Share Crystals!" IF shouted. IF turned to Alex. "Alex!"  
Alex nodded, "Right!"

She activated her transformation, however this time the share code seemed glitchy and out of control.

"Processor Unit Co–... Wait, why is my voice the same? I should sound like Nepgear by now!"

Lara fished out a compact mirror from her pants and handed it to Alex. Alex looked at her reflection and saw her own face and hair instead of Purple Sister's. The only things that remained of Purple Sister were the light blue eyes and the power button irises.

Alex inspected herself further and found that she didn't exactly fill out the leotard like she used to. While it was still skin tight, the outfit brought out how… small she was.

"W-what? Why do I look like this?" Alex said as she inspected her semi-transformed state.

"I guess it's because of all of the Anti-Share Crystals in the area," IF concluded, "I guess 'Lex just 'half transformed' or something. You feeling alright?"

"I… Guess so…"

The Fenrir lunged and swiped at Alex. The girl braced herself and tried to block it. The monster's claws grazed off her weapon and scratched her hands. While she was able to take the attack, it hurt more than the other attacks. Grunting as she stepped back, Alex held her blade close to her and waited for the Fenrir to lunge again. Once the monster began rushing towards her, Alex dashed at the monster. Alex's sudden movement startled the Fenrir and caused the monster to stumble. As the monster tried to regain its footing, Alex unleashed a Mirage Dance on it. As her blade flew towards the monster's fur hide, the Fenrir tensed its side and threw its paw outwards. Both claw and blade clashed, sending Alex to the side. The Fenrir swung the same paw at Alex, forcing her to block again and knock her back a few meters. Alex grit her teeth as her hands stung from the scratch marks. Sliding to a halt, Alex leaped into the hair and dodged the Fenrir's lunge once again. Holding her gunblade in both hands, Alex dropped down and plunged her weapon into the monster's back. Alex's gunblade made a loud clang as it bounced against the Fenrir's hide and slid to the side. Startled, Alex flew away from the monster as it thrashed about in an attempt to throw her off of it. Flying high enough to catch her breath, Alex turned to IF.

"Okay, maybe I'm not at a hundred percent. Although I can still fly." As Alex was huffing, IF held up a thumbs up.

"Keep it up, Lex! You still have Gear's powers." IF encouraged.

"We have faith in you, Lexi!" Compa added, "We have faith in all four of you... The four of you are the champions that will save Gamindustri!" Alex turned to the sounds of her friends. All of them were far to the side, safe from harm.

"What are you doing over there?!" Hotaru, Lara, and Maya were holding small red flags that have "ALEX" written on them in white, waving them around.

"Don't ask us where we got these," Lara commented with a deadpan on her voice.

"Go go Alex! Go go Alex!" Compa was waving glow sticks around while IF had a foam finger in one hand with Alex's name and another glow stick in another.

Alex started to glow, "I feel… warm… My wounds are healing!"

IF smirked, "That's share energy for ya!"

Alex nodded as she discovered another aspect of her powers. She then called out to the girls, "The rest of you should destroy the rest of the Anti-Share Crystals. I'll handle this beast!" As Alex prepared to fight the Fenrir, IF grinned.

IF dropped her glow stick and foam finger, summoning her qatars in their place. "I'm not letting you have _all_ the fun, Lex!" IF rushed into the battle with Alex, drop-kicking the wolf monster as it tried to swipe at Alex.

As the two fought the Fenrir, the others fanned out and tried to shatter as many crystals as they could. In doing so, more Fenrir's were summoned from the remains of the shattered crystals. Compared to the first Fenrir they accidentally summoned, the newer Fenrir's varied in size. However, none of them were close to matching the first one. As they appeared out of the shards, the monsters rushed towards Alex and IF, knocking Compa and Maya to the ground. Lara had pulled Hotaru out of the way. When the duo dueling the Fenrir turned around, Alex quickly picked up IF and took to the air.

Without missing a beat, IF summoned her pistol and began firing at the monsters. While the first Fenrir ignored the bullets, the new ones actively flinched and moved out of the way. Emptying her clip, IF sent her pistol away. "Lex!" gestured Alex to the spot she made nearby. IF's flying companion nodded, depositing her and landing onto the floor.

Once on the ground, IF turned to Alex and give a smile and a nod. Alex returned the gesture and sped towards the original Fenrir. Using her body and the momentum she had, Alex tackled the Fenrir out of the way and into a wall. Both Alex and the Fenrir made a hole in the wall, but Alex flew out of the hole without a scratch.

IF stared down the brand new monsters, brandishing her weapons. "Alright you mangy mutts, let's go!" A handful of Fenrir's raced towards the girl. IF smirked, dropping to her knees. Slamming her palms onto the ground, IF glared at the monsters. "Demon Flames!" A large magic circle appeared ahead of the Fenrir's. As they reached the center of the circle, a pillar of flames erupted from the circle. IF got to her feet as the flames flew high into the air. Another Fenrir was charging IF from the side and she shifted her leg, raising a blade. As the Fenrir leaped at her, IF sidestepped and plunged her Quatar into the Fenrir's neck, dragging through its body as the monster moved past her. Blood gushed from the monster's wound as it landed on the ground. The Fenrir staggered before slowly turning around and collapsing onto the ground.

The howl of more Fenrir's caught IF's ears. She turned around to see a handful of Fenrir's jumping and leaping after Alex. The girl rose and dipped through the air, slashing at any Fenrir's that got close. Many of the newer Fenrir's exploded into code after Alex cut them up, but the original one had burst out of the wall and began harassing the duo..

However, with each Anti-Share Crystal destroyed, more Fenrir's appeared and joined the fray. Maya, Lara, Hotaru and Compa practically had to leap out of the way when a Fenrir ran towards Alex and IF. At the same time, every Anti-Share Crystal destroyed gave Alex a bit of strength back. By the time Compa and the others had destroyed a good chunk of the crystals, Alex was able to kill many of the Fenrir's with relative ease and parry the original Fenrir at the same time.

IF moved to the side and was using her pistol to gun down any monsters that moved near her. Suddenly, the original Fenrir roared and turned it's head to IF. As IF tensed up, ready to dodge, Alex slammed into the giant lupine beast. The girl dug her blade into the Fenrir's side, pinning it to the floor. Letting out a loud yell, she pumped the Fenrir full of blasts from her gunblade. The lupine beast fell limp and exploded into Share Code.

"This is the last one!" Maya shouted as she crushed the last Anti-Share Crystal with her foot.

"Thanks, Maya!" Alex said as she started to glow.

Suddenly, Alex exploded in a wave of Share Energy. The monsters that surrounded her were pushed back, and the girls witnessed something amazing.

Alex's face morphed, and her hair lengthened, changing color to pink. Her hands became daintier and her arms became slightly toned. Her legs filled out the tight boots, her waist pulled in and her hips widened, giving her an hourglass figure.

Her shoulders became more pronounced, and her chest grew, filling out her skintight suit.

"Pretty…" Hotaru intoned, full of wonder.

"I guess this is the first time we've seen the transformation this close. " Lara commented.

"I… I guess that could be cool…" Maya murmured, "But wearing that leotard is going to be so embarassing…"

"Welcome back, Ge-Ge!" Compa cheered.

"I can feel the Share Energy coursing through my veins!" Alex exclaimed in her new voice. She pointed her gunblade up and let out a shot, which then split up into multiple beams, and rained down on the monsters. She then slashed the beasts one by one. Share code appeared around them as Alex dealt critical damage.

"Share Code, Digitize!"

The monster burst into data as all of their code flew into Alex's Digivice, clearing the area. The greenery and purple tech went back their normal color as everyone cheered. The entire City of Planeptune erupted in lights as the disused tech started running self repair and diagnostics. Finally, one of the four nations was back to its former glory.

"Umm... Do you guys see a weird girl wearing a gray mouse hoodie?" Lara pointed out.

IF groaned and Compa sighed, they both knew exactly who Lara was talking about.

* * *

"Welp, there's another plan ruined by the Goddesses, chu" Warechu said leaning against a tree.

"Ugh, I do _not_ want to be the one to tell the boss!" Linda whined.

"Well, I'm sure as hell not telling her, chu."

Linda looked out and saw one of the girls pointing in their direction.

* * *

"Shit, we've been spotted! We need to go!" The group saw that the girl and a black mouse ran away.

"They're going to the city!" Lara shouted.

"Of course they are." IF sighed, "Come on, let's go get them!"

"Who are they?" Lara asked.

"Um… Underling and Warechu, I think." Alex said, closing her eye while she tried to search her memories, "Nepgear and the others fought them before."

"A lot of times." IF added, "Honestly, I didn't think we'd find them here."

The team chased them through the city until the heroes cornered the mouse-themed culprits on an enclosed alleyway. The alley itself was between two abandoned buildings with a dumpster in the middle which IF jumped over during the chase, meanwhile Lara almost tripped over a banana peel which had fallen out of an upturned trash can which was next to a pile of damaged consoles. The walls of the alley itself were covered in graffiti, most of which was of the nations goddess however a few other things were on it as well, such as a yellow circle with a triangular slit missing on the right. At the end of the alley itself was a medium sized scaleable metal fence with barbed wire lining everywhere but the very top.

"Tch, why are we even running?" Underling said, "We know we're gonna lose."

"We're not–" Warechu started and then sighed, "Yeah… You're right, besides nothing these chumps do would be worse than what _she_ 's going to do."

IF lowered her qatars, "Wait, you're giving yourself up?"

Underling smiled, "Ya know, it might be stupid of me, but I wanna at least say I tried to fight you guys!"

Suddenly, Warechu attacked IF from behind using a trash can lid he picked up.

"Ngh! You..."

"If you want me and my knowledge of the Lastation Spirit so hard, then come at me!"

"Lastation spirit?" Lara asked.

"You blabbermouth!" Warechu yelled.

Alex raised her sword as Underling did the same with her steel bat. The two rushed each other to start the battle.

* * *

Neptune: Nepstation! It's no mystery that I'm your host, Neptune! With me is none other than Alexandra Rose and Lara Strife!

Lara: Alex… what's going on here?

Alex: I think Miss Neptune calls it the "totally non-canon Episode Preview"

Nep: Yeppers! You can talk about anything from the chapter we just presented above.

Lara: Right, so... Who is this "Warechu" anyway? Is that some kind of Pokémon?

Alex: Um.. sort of? He and Miss Underling are sort of the Team Rocket?

Lara: Oh… It's sort of unfair that you have to fight them on your own though.

Nep: That's true. Also, you'll get your sister spirit soon, Lara. Alex won't be the only one fighting anymore.  
Lara: Really?  
Nep: Yep! But first, we need to talk about Parallel Universes...  
Alex: What? Where? We ourselves are proof that Parallel Universes exist. What are you talking about?  
Nep: I'm saying that transforming into HDD is a full thing, you can't say you only "half-transformed", Lexi! It's not an "A" Press! How do you expect to be a main character if you can't keep these basic rules of speedrunning straight?  
Alex: But... Nevermind. Roll the next chapter preview, please!

Neptune: We're wrapping up the First Planeptune Arc when our four champions defeats Underling and lets her spill everything she knows! Next time: The Road to Lastation!


	5. The Road to Lastation

Linda smirked in a smug fashion at her opponent. Just because the girl had the spirit of a Goddess didn't make her one. Alex could almost feel the contempt radiating off of the gray-skinned woman. The feeling made her and the Spirit synchronize in shared anger. With a cry of challenge, Alex shot towards the slender woman with her sword at the ready. Linda sprinted forward at the same moment with her bat held high without losing that damned smirk.

The weapons clashed together with such force that the combatants rebounded. Alex slashed at Linda with her sword. The older girl deflected the strike and returned with a swing for her head. Their weapons wove in a pattern of parry and attack. A bead of sweat dripped down the young Goddess' temple. Who used a baseball bat like that? Her enemy seemed to find the younger girl's discomfiture amusing.

"Heh, Looks like that spirit of yours gave you more than the goddess' pretty face!" Linda taunted.

Alex blushed a little, though the distraction gave Linda the chance to sweep Alex on to her back.

IF ran to help Alex, but was then blindsided by Warechu. She wrestled the mouse off herself and threw it over to Compa.

"Wha— Miss Compa!?" Warechu started blushing as Compa hugged him to her chest.

"Mr. Mousey, I thought you were a good boy now." Compa chided.

Linda tried to stab down at Alex, but Alex then rolled out of the way. She then pointed her gunblade at Linda.

"Don't you remember, Miss Underling?" Alex said, "It's also a gun."

Alex shot Linda with a stun blast. Linda stumbled back dropping her weapon, allowing Alex to get back up.

"Mirage Dance," Alex muttered, as she unleashed a flurry of blows. Linda stepped back at the attack, but then launched a surprise dropkick to Alex's gut. The blow loosened Alex's sword from her grip.

Linda smirked as she got into a stance, "What? Done already?"

She then rushed Alex and threw a punch. Alex turned her head to dodge and weakly tried to counter. Linda's punch missed, but a lucky strike connected with the girl's cheek, causing her to spiral to the ground, dazed.

"It's kind of cool that she learned to fight unarmed, but a goddess is still a goddess, chu," Warechu stated.

"So, what, you're just going to let us take you in?" IF asked the mouse.

"Hey, I'm with Miss Compa, chu, and I _really_ don't wanna mess with the Goddess right now."

IF rolled her eyes and had the other girls drag Linda back to the Basilicom.

* * *

Linda woke up wearing handcuffs and sitting on a chair. Not that unfamiliar of a situation, but not one she was fond of. Another sight she was used to was IF sitting across from her.

"Who are you working for?" She asked, in full interrogator mode.

"Oh geez going for the throat this early, huh? Well, It just so happens that I like existing, so tough luck there," Linda said flippantly.

" _Who are you working for!?_ " IF repeated.

Linda sighed, "Look, I'm not going to give you any names. But…. The Old Lady pretty much gave us to her and since then, we've been scared shitless. That blue-haired weirdo keeps talking about Despair, Existence, and Willing things. Usually, I can deal with that, but then her eyes… There's something wrong, something… Broken"

Histoire gasped somewhat, but she shook it off. There was no way. She didn't have Gold Third energy to preserve her spirit.

"You mentioned something about the Lastation Spirit." IF said, missing Histoire's little back and forth with herself.

"Yeah, we're looking for those spirits too. I don't know why, don't bother asking me. We've gotten certain ideas where they are, but we haven't found them yet. Sort of surprised that one of those four dorks found one," Linda glanced at the four earth girls who were currently eating some lunch Compa made for them.

"That was… surprisingly honest…" IF gawked. She then proceeded to uncuff Linda due to her sudden cooperation and straightforwardness.

"Eh, I got knocked out fair and square," Linda said with a shrug. She then reached in her pocket, "Here's something I picked up from our Lastation incursion. They're some strange objects that emit Share Energy. However, one of them lost their glimmer when we exposed it to the Anti-Share Crystals."

Linda produced a couple of black ribbons tied around some hair pins and tossed them to IF.

"No way…" IF gaped.

Histoire floated over to inspect the hair pins more closely.

"These are definitely Uni's hair pins," Histoire appraised. She then took them and flew over to the console, catching the attention of the earth girls.

Histoire set them onto a stage connected to the Console. A scan had indicated that there was similar Share Energy signatures in Lastation, around some shooting ranges. Histoire smiled slightly at that.

"Oh, those are cute hair pins," Lara said from behind Histoire.

"They used to belong to the Lastation Candidate." Histoire informed.

Lara picked one of the hairpins up, "Um, May I?"

Histoire nodded and Lara tied it to her ponytail. The pin then glimmered in her hair, and for a split second, Histoire could have sworn that she saw Uni standing next to the girl from earth.

Histoire shook her head to regain her composure, "I think we've found the location of Uni's spirit in Lastation"

"I guess that's where we're going next, huh?" Maya said as the rest of the group walked up to the the console.

"Alright, gang! We're going to Lastation!" Alex cheered.

* * *

"You're not coming with us?" Alex cried.

IF scratched the back of her head, while Compa just smiled.

"Sorry, Lex, but we can't just leave Planeptune behind after we just took it back. There's a lot of rebuilding we have to do."

"Aww… Iffy, do you not think I'm Neptune enough to protect Planeptune?" The older Neptune teased as she sauntered up to the group.

"Miss Neptune?" Alex questioned...

Neptune smiled, "I just thought I'd get a cameo in before you girls head off. There's not going to be a Nep in the next few arcs, ya know."

Something in Alex's brain short circuited.

"Anyway, We can protect Planeptune by ourselves, Iffy."

"But…"

"Come on! You and Compa are like a dream team. These girls are going to be so lost without you."

"Yeah! You've been with us for so many adventures. We wouldn't have defeated the Deity of Sin the first time without you guys. You're like family." Alex interjected with a reminiscent look on her face.

For a split second, IF could swear that she saw Nepgear stand beside Alex.

"F-fine," IF conceded, "I guess you guys are really lost without me, huh, Gear?"

Alex blushed. IF walked past the group. Her arms crossed, and her lips turned up in a confident smirk.

Histoire floated to them, "I've managed to contact Kei, she will be waiting for you all in Lastation."

"Compa and I are gonna tag along, is that alright?"

Histoire nodded, "Why yes, of course. The Champions are our last hope, Protecting them until they obtain their spirits is the top priority."

IF nodded, "Alright, let's go, Lastation's waiting!"

== Nepstation 04 ==

Alex: Nepstation! Filling in for Miss Neptune is me, Alexandra Rose! Our guests today are IF and Compa.

Compa: Wait, why are you hosting, Lexi?

Alex: Miss Neptune said something about taking on the responsibility of being the main character.

IF: Probably meaning she didn't want to do it this time.

Alex: By the way, whatever happened to Warechu?

IF: I handed him off to Compa. *Looks to Compa* What did you do with him?

Compa: Don't worry, I took care of Mr. Mousey.

Alex and IF: …

IF: Um… Next time, we enter Lastation and meet up with the resistance there! Next time: "The Whole World, In Your Hands!"

Alex: Miss Compa is surprisingly scary…


	6. The Whole World in Your Hands

The Champions and the Maker Dream Team had just landed in The Land of Black Regality when they had met the boyish-looking Oracle at the train station. The difference between the two nations was marked by the generally more ornate feel to the station.

Planeptune's terminal was more modern in comparison to Lastation's. Broken monitors and strips of lights littered the area, still trying to guide nonexistent passengers to their destinations. Pieces of stone marble that used to structure the terminal lay scattered as gentle winds from holes in the rooftop cascaded down and brushed them aside.

Lastation's terminal however was decorated with wrought iron frames, twisting and turning into intricate designs, all of them topped with golden arches. The station stood in open air giving passengers a full view of the nation they were leaving or entering. Instead of the more digital feel of Planeptune's displays, Lastation still preferred a more mechanical form of train schedule, but as with the Land of Purple Progress, their displays weren't working either.

"Welcome to Lastation. I am Kei Jinguji, the Oracle of this land. Thank you for accepting your roles as the Champions."

Histoire had sent word to Kei before they left, but the directness of the Oracle caught the Champions by surprise.

Kei walked up to Lara and reached out a hand, "Lara Strife, Champion of Lastation, I am happy to be of service." Lara shook Kei's hand as a sign of respect.

"Wait, how do you know which countries we're getting?" Maya asked.

Kei tilted her head, "Histoire didn't tell you? Well, I suppose it is a complicated matter. Your devices all have the color schemes of the nations you all represent. I also see some… similarities…"

The room went quiet as the other girls processed this information.

"Anyhow, we must meet with the rest, follow me."

Kei led the group to the Base just outside the main city of Lastation. As they rode the cars that the Lastation Convoy provided, they passed by a street full of buildings that stood strong after the attacks. All of them had this steampunk aesthetic, and it speaks about Lastation's culture and their industry. The vehicles then stopped at the central part of Lastation. It was a small two-story building in what looked like the beginnings of an office district. One thing stood out about the nation to the group was that while empty, the streets were clean and free of any damage.

"It looks a lot better than Planeptune," Lara pointed out.

Kei nodded, "Lastation has a better military program than Planeptune."

Lara looked at Alex who was blushing and nodding.

"We were able to mitigate most of the damage to the city, but the Basilicom was still corrupted. The more dangerous monsters mostly stay near the Basilicom. They aren't the main problem."

Kei led the group to the base which, unlike Planeptune, looked more like a meeting room for a high-end business than an underground resistance. The black-tiled floor held a long meeting table with ornate golden accents. Beyond the table was a computer console that only had one large screen showing many different windows.

At the table, sat three girls, just like in Planeptune. The first girl wore a red and yellow school uniform with a red "K" symbol resting on her chest. Sitting across from her was another girl with dark blue hair wearing goggles and a scarf. Next to her was an older looking bionic woman with light blue hair.

The schoolgirl stood up and made her way to the group. She stepped up to Lara and inspected her.

"You don't seem like much, but if you're Noire's chosen hero, I'm not going to complain."

Kei coughed into her fist, "This is K-Sha, one of the Gold Third. She's, um, … very loyal to Lady Noire."

"And I swear I will make that purple bitch pay for what she did to her," K-sha added, her eyes darkening.

Alex took this opportunity to hide behind Lara, while Hotaru hid behind Alex.

"Histoire said that you had something for us?" Kei asked.

"Oh!" Lara vocalized while taking off her hairpin, and handed it to Kei.

She walked over to the console and placed it on a scanner. Windows popped up on the console, showing a map and some exterior shots of a building. The exterior was an unassuming one story gray building. Next to the pictures of the exterior were another set of images that showed some of the interior pictures of the shooting rooms within the range.

"Uni's favorite shooting range," Kei commented, "We weren't able to find anything there…"

"We weren't able to find Gear either," IF pointed out, "But Alex was able to find her almost immediately."

Kei considered this information, "That's something to keep in mind."

"Nepgear offered her help to me when I found her" Alex added, "She reached out to me when I was hurt."

"Wouldn't you know it, it's crawling with robots," The girl with dark blue hair, Chian, pointed out to the monitor as she observed the pictures.

"Like I said, monsters aren't the main problem here," Kei started to explain, "For some reason, robots have been attacking and patrolling Lastation. The fact they're patrolling the shooting range is most certainly not a coincidence. Any advances there must be meticulously planned."

"Leave that to me," the bionic woman, Lid, said, "Stealth is my specialty."

* * *

Unfortunately, Lid's idea of stealth was cardboard boxes. One would think that six cardboard boxes would be very suspicious, and apparently one would be wrong as the small group of robots failed to see them scooting across the hallway floor. In most of the rooms, weapons were scattered across the concrete hallway and on top of the counters. Pistols, sniper rifles, laser pistols, revolvers, miniguns, machine pistols, you name it, it was there. There was even an unlit flamethrower and a frost gun right next to each other.

A comm alert sounded in everybody's ear.

"Are you sure this will work?" Lara asked through the comm link given to everyone.

"Just hide on top of another box then you won't be seen!" Lid reassured.

"This is ridiculous!" IF groused, joining the conversation.

"Trust me! The bots don't have heat trackers!" Lid explained.

"Alright. I'll trust you on this," Lara agreed, somewhat nervous.

Everything was going smoothly until Lara's box caught on the tile and flipped over. She squeaked and the robots patrolling the hallway turned to see her. Low aerial drones gave chase, and Lara ran down the pristine white hallways. The whole thing happened so fast that the others didn't have time to react to it.

Lara ran through the hall, the doors whizzing by her while the Drones' pursuit didn't give her time to go into any of them. She turned the corner and entered the first door she could find.

Even with her luck as it was, she found herself in a shooting range. She jumped over the counters and went to the far side of the room and hid behind the targets. She took out the gun that Lid had loaned her and started fiddling with the safety.

The drones burst in and started to advance on Lara. She got to a point where she was confident that the safety was off. She stood out from behind the targets and shot at the drones, squeaking as the recoil caught her by surprise.

The bullets themselves proved to be very little help. The ones that actually made contact with the drones hit heavily armored plating and simply bounced off. Lara panicked and shot even more wildly.

"Ugh, you aren't even aiming. Have you even used a gun?" A voice complained from all around her.

"U-um… no…? Who's talking?"

A black mass of energy coalesced in front of her. Forming a trophy of a young girl wearing a black one-piece bodysuit looking through the scope of a very large gun.

"My name's Uni, It looks like you need help."

Lara nodded as her Digivice started reacting. She took it out of her pocket and held it out as if she was in a trance.

"I can't do this alone…"

A light shone from the digivice and brought the statue into itself. A flash of bright light erupted from the device and engulfed the entire room.

* * *

Lara found herself in a digital dimension that's surrounded by black code, and she felt her body start to move by itself.

Lara reached out with her left hand and a ring of code appeared on it. She then scanned the code with her digivice.

 _"Access: Sister Spirit Evolution!"_

She took the Share Code and held her digivice sideways while her clothes were dissolved into a million pixels.

A black metallic circle with white edges appeared in front of Lara and it clung to her chest. A black tar-like substance erupted from the now-glowing metal ring and covered her entire body from the neck down, hugging and highlighting her curves. A chunk of it solidified into various metal pieces, some of it disappeared and the remaining black tar turned into latex, leaving a mostly black skin-tight bodysuit with long gloves, and thigh-high heeled boots. White and gray patterns then engraved itself on Lara's new outfit, and white rings also appeared on various parts of her suit.

Lara's body shrunk, giving her a more petite and shorter build. She then observed and posed with her new younger form.

Lara finally closed her blue eyes as she felt the Share Energy growing and assimilating within her, and the final stages of her transformation take place.

Her face drastically morphs into a much younger one, her long hair lost all color and tied itself into twintails. Her white twintails then curled itself into drills. Small wings also appeared on her back.

Lara opened her now green eyes and reached out to her side. A large cannon-like weapon appeared out of condensed shards of Share Code. She then poses with the massive weapon with a flourish.

 _"Spirit of Lastation! Black Sister!"_

* * *

The light died down to reveal Black Sister pointing her gun skyward. She brought it down to rest on her other palm and looked through the sight.

"I've got you in my sights…" She noticed that she even sounded younger.

She let off a couple of shots that immediately destroyed the drones. Just in time for Purple Sister to crash in from the door and destroy the counters in her landing.

"Nep–" Lara shook her head. "Alex!"

The main security bot lumbered in after her, gun aimed at Alex. She stumbled and fell heavily to the ground. There was no way for her to evade the weapon in time. Just as it got ready to fire, Lara flew in between them and pointed her gun right between its eyes.

"NGP" Lara stated.

She shot the robot, launching it up in the air. With precision timing and shots she juggled the robot in the air. She then flipped a switch on her cannon and fired a devastating beam at it. The robot crashed down and a ring of code surrounded it.

Lara brought out her digivice and scanned the code, " _Share code! Digitize!"_

The Robot collapsed into a pile of parts and strangely enough, some spare Credit chips.

"You… really… need to … be more careful, Alex," Lara panted as she began to glow, " I… can't be saving you all the time…"

Maya and Hotaru ran in, just in time to see Lara transform back to normal. Lara swayed a little before collapsing. Fortunately, Alex managed to catch her.

"Well, it looks like Lara found her Spirit..." Maya pointed out.

"Will she be okay?" Hotaru asked.

Alex lifted Lara into a piggy back position. Lara was about the same height as Purple Sister, but Alex could carry her with ease using the Goddess' strength.

"She'll be fine," Alex stated, "I think the transformation and the use of one of Uni's skills exhausted her."

Lara shifted herself to a more comfortable position on Alex's back.

"Hmmm… Nepgear…" She muttered with a smile on her face.

Alex blushed, "Umm… I can actually explain that."

Maya turned to the mass of robot parts and saw the manufacturer tag engraved on them: Avenir.

* * *

"Of course, it's Avenir, " Chian groused, "Couldn't resist a deal where they could take Lastation again." she said while clenching her fist in genuine anger.

The Resistance were all in the infirmary watching over Lara. The infirmary is in an almost secluded room far removed from the meeting area, Separate from the regular sleeping quarters. Lara was laying on a bed with a cold washcloth over her head.

"Will she really be okay?" Hotaru asked.

"Yeah, she's just exhausted." Chian said.

"How was Avenir able to take the Basilicom? How were Miss Underling and Warechu able to take Planeptower for that matter?"

Kei coughed into her hands and prepared to tell the story, "When the CPUs met their end, the natural Share Barrier weakened. Not only that, but the Sharecite in all the nations went dormant, as if in mourning. Allowing ASIC to come in and corrupt it. I am surprised that Histoire didn't tell you this."

"I think she did, but I don't think any of us understood it." Alex said.

Kei nodded, "And now since the lands are corrupted, the citizens started to feel it, and the monsters started to invade areas that they aren't supposed to invade. To the point where the Other Neptune had offered to use her abilites to take the people to another dimension. We contacted the Ultra Dimension through their Histoire, and their CPU's helped us take our citizens. Leaving us Oracles and a handful of Makers."

"So then that's when Miss Histy called us." Alex muttered.

"I see that you realize your importance to us," Kei said, "You all had better get some rest, Once Miss Strife awakens, we're going to start our mission."

== Nepstation 05 ==

Neptune: Nepstation! It's ya girl Neptune once again, comin at ya live from Lastation! And with me are two guests, Lara strife and Uni!

Uni: Wait, I thought I died already?  
Neptune: Yeah, that's also what my lil Nep said when she was revived. So, what do you feel now that you're kinda back?  
Uni: Conflicted, I guess? It's really unusual to die, only to come back as a spirit.

Neptune: Right... So Lara. Now that you got Uni, what do you feel?  
Lara: I feel… kind of badass! I mean, Did you see the size of my gun?

(Uni looks away and blushes)

Lara: And to think the person who has that gun is a cute little girl.

Uni: J-just start the preview already!

Lara:I learn about my new abilities, experience the Bleeding Effect for the first time and we gear up for our big mission! Next Time: Lara Strife and The Black Sisters!

Neptune: Hey! Trolling the Tsun sister is _my_ job!


End file.
